Lieberman's recycled plan

Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman announced Wednesday that he would handpick Palestinian leaders and deal with them directly rather than with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

But this is just another attempt at recycling a failed policy.

Several decades ago, Israel backed the so-called Village Councils in Judea and Samaria, local organizations that were not in favor of a full-fledged Palestinian state. But these leaders eventually faded away. When Israel engaged in a similar effort in the Gaza Strip, hoping to undermine the Palestine Liberation Organization there, the outcome was much worse. I am referring to the time Israel propped up an Islamic charity and let its members run Gaza's social services. Israel was very happy with these so-called social workers, until they formed Hamas.

By the time Lieberman was appointed defense minister, Israel had already learned the right lesson: A nation can occasionally impose a government on a neighboring country, but it cannot forcibly legitimize that government in the eyes of its people, especially when those people are hostile to the other country.

Lieberman's plan has no chance of success, and it may hurt Israel. It is going to be tough explaining the lack of order here to outside observers. How do you explain that the defense minister charted his own course on such a cardinal matter, without receiving a green light from the prime minister or Diplomatic-Security Cabinet? Lieberman's detractors are going to portray this move as part of a secret understanding with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to wipe the Palestinian Authority off the map, in defiance of the international community.

But the facts are stronger than logic. Lieberman has taken the liberty to promote a policy that was never deliberated by the ministers. He has announced that he would use the means at his disposal in Judea and Samaria, namely the Civil Administration, to implement his plan. He has, however, told Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit that if he stood in his way, he might hire a private lawyer and argue against the government at the High Court of Justice.

This is yet another chapter in Lieberman's bull-in-a-china-shop mentality. He is flying solo, using the state's agencies, but Netanyahu has not uttered a word. Netanyahu is too busy because he has too many portfolios. His staffers are leaving him. But he must do something to stop and tame the wild minister.

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